Vilnius

Vilnius University now has faculties across the city and beyond, but this is the baroque core of it, with the library, courtyards, observatory and Church of St Johns (plural: Šv Jono, the Baptist and the Evangelist). You can see the church, four courtyards and Franciszek Smuglewicz Hall free, and guided tours are available for groups of four or more by prior booking. The Adam Mickiewicz Museum displays the university's history.

Neo-renaissance mansion where Lithuania's Act of Independence was signed on 16 February 1918. It's now a branch of the National Museum depicting the story of Lithuania as a separate nation, in which independent spirit it makes few concessions to non-speakers of the language.

Displays religious art.

Huge display of art from the 14th to 20th century.

About the digitisation and online curating of museum collections. So if you want to grasp the "principles of the use of ontologies" you've come to the right place, but if you seek physical exhibits you've not been listening.

This is about tableware rather than cuisine.

A Russian Orthodox church. Not to be confused with the RC St Nicholas on Šv Mikalojaus.

Varnelis (1917-2020) was an abstract artist who mostly lived in the USA, returning to Vilnius in 1998. His house is now part of National Museum, displaying his studio and works.

The present town hall is neoclassical, built 1799. It's used for civic events, and the simplest way to see inside is to attend a concert or similar, which may be free. The square is a venue for fairs, concerts, demos and so on.

This has a permanent display of Fluxus artwork plus other rotating exhibitions.

Small independent museum of city history.

Ames Room, Pepper's Ghost, holograms, all the staples are here. Children will love it.

Baroque RC church completed in 1618. It's been held by various faiths (including a spell as Museum of Atheism) but was re-consecrated in 1991. It often hosts organ recitals.

The city walls were built 1503-22 with nine gates (of which only Gate of Dawn survives) and this artillery position. It's now a museum of the city's military history.

Re-built in 1753 in Baroque / Rococo. It's affiliated to the Monastery of the Holy Spirit and the Convent of Saint Mary Magdalen, with services in Russian.

The Roman Catholic St Nick's, brick gothic, and the oldest church in Vilnius being documented in 1387.

Part of a Ukrainian Greek Catholic monastery, and mostly built in the early 17th century.

Just north of the Gate of Dawn (indeed serving as the entrance to get up to the gate's Virgin Mary icon) is a Roman Catholic church popular with worshippers also outside mass, completed in 1650.

The last survivor of the walled city's nine gates, various called Medininkai Gate as the street led south to that village, Sharp Gate, and now Gate of Dawn. It's straddled by a chapel with a large icon of the Virgin Mary, painted in the 1620s, which has become a pilgrimage destination. Mass is held daily in Lithuanian and Polish. Enter the chapel via the Church of St Theresa, just follow the head-scarves. When the chapel windows are opened, you see the icon from the street below, and she can see you and your sins. The alley through the gate is pedestrianised and open 24 hours: south you emerge blinking into a modern world of traffic.

Small flamboyant church in Gothic style, built by 1500 and little altered since. There is a legend that when Napoleon's campaigns brought him to Vilnius, he declared that he'd like to lift the church on his palm and carry it back to Paris. (Obviously untrue, since given the horrors of his retreat, he'd have been forced to eat it before he reached Warsaw.) St Anne's is not within Užupis but backs onto the river boundary by an entrance bridge.

Also known as the Bernadine Church, it is next to St Anne's on the riverbank. It's a sturdy Gothic building from the 16th century, incorporated into the city walls, with loopholes toshoot at the Cossacks.

Like St Anne's, this stands by an entrance bridge to Užupis. It was first built in the 1340s by Grand Duke Algirdas before the country became Christian. It's been destroyed, rebuilt and changed use several times - in the 1820s it was the university anatomy department. The present building is from the 1860s in sort-of neoclassical meets the Byzantine style of Georgia. It's Eastern Orthodox (which calls the Virgin Mary Theotokos, god-bearer) and so is the senior church for Russians and Belarusians in Vilnius.

In the main square is a statue unveiled on 1 April 2002 of Gabriel blowing a trumpet. He's probably blowing a raspberry.

Gallery of modern art, visit only by pre-booked guided tour.

Established in 1810 by the Bernardine monks of the Church of St Francis in Užupis. It became the main city cemetery, with some 14,000 burial plots, but fell into disrepair from 1945. It was restored from 2010.

A monument to seven Franciscan friars supposedly beheaded here by pagans, while seven more were crucified then thrown in the river. The story is nonsense, but Lithuania was the last European country to convert to Christianity, and there was indeed conflict. King Mindaugas was baptised in 1250 but the country as a whole didn't convert until 1485 when the Duchy united with Poland. Wooden crosses have been erected on the hill since the early 17th century. They needed periodic replacement, until the Tsarists stamped out the practice in 1869. Concrete crosses were built in 1916, got rid of by the Soviets in 1950, and re-built in 1989.

In use from 1828 to the 1940s - though it was called "New Cemetery" as the first (north of River Neris) was established in the 15th century. The Soviets made sure to destroy both plus the synagogue, so what remains here is a memorial made of old tombstones. A new-new cemetery is now in the northwest district of Šeškinė.

The first church from around 1500 was wooden and burned down, and its successor was wrecked in the 1650s in the war with Russia. The present building was commissioned by Michał Kazimierz Pac (1624-82), begun in 1668 but only completed in 1704 after his death. The exterior is fairly plain, but inside is baroque run riot.

The 19th century graveyard 500 m east of St Peter & St Paul, tightly packed with the funerary art of the city's notables. It's atmospheric going on unkempt, and the two chapels are in a poor state. Its name means "sunny" but it was only called this from 1945, from the adjacent Saulės gatve.

Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837) was often in exile around the edges of Russia: not here, but his son lived in this mansion. His works were translated into Lithuanian and much of the museum is about that literary task, but it has period decor.

This green area stretches east of the Pushkin Museum, linking with others such as Pavilnys Regional Park to form a greenbelt between the city and its industrial and commuter suburbs. The parks have bosky walks and are dotted with ancient burial tumuli.

Presents the history of railways in Lithuania from Prussian times until today. Railway equipment small enough to fit into a room, tickets, staff uniforms and the like are on display in addition to scale models, pictures and videos. Child-friendly.

Founded in 1334 and it's their monks who are commemorated by the Three Crosses. It's in shabby condition, but you can access the church daily 07:00-22:30.

It's Roman Catholic, redbrick Gothic, dating to 1400 but 19th century in its present form. Also known as the Church of the Assumption.

Early modern Lithuania (like Poland, "White Russia" and Ukraine) had a large Jewish population, as Russia's Jews were encouraged (often violently) to live in the western "Pale of Settlement". Best known is the rabbinical scholar Elijah ben Solomon Zalman (1720-97), the "Vilna Gaon". The museum describes that community, its tribulations and eventual obliteration.

Museum with modern contemporary art and changing exhibitions.

Frank Zappa (1940-1993) is commemorated by a bust on Kalinausko gatve. He was never here, but local fans erected it in 1995, donating a replica to Baltimore, Maryland, his childhood home.

This orthodox church was built in 1913 to mark the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty, much good it did them. It's a dinky onion-domed building.

Has little for non-speakers of Lithuanian, though some exhibits transcend language.

History of money, and collection of coins and bills from around the world.

This is in the former KGB headquarters, where over 1000 were put to death. In spite of the plurals, it is specifically the Lithuanian experience under Soviet rule that is described; the experience under Nazism would reveal a very dark corner of national history. And until 2018, it was called the Museum of Genocide Victims, yet almost entirely omitted the genocide against what had been a large Jewish population. Just one small KGB interrogation cell in the basement describes this, as if 190,000 deaths were a dissident version of history to be beaten into confessing that it didn't exist, never happened.

Red and white Baroque church of the Dominican order, completed in 1722. It houses a large icon of the Virgin Mary "Hodegetria" - in iconography this means "shows the way" as she points to the infant as the salvation of mankind.

This complex houses the Lithuanian parliament. The first building, completed in 1980, was the seat of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, and looks it. In 2007 the new Parliament Hall (or Building 2) was opened. Building 3 was added to house committees and technical services. Exhibitions in Building 2 are open to the public daily 08:00-17:00, and those in Building 1 on Fridays 11:00-15:00. You can also book a guided tour.

Bounds city centre to the west, large and wooded so you could easily lose a small child. It's in a loop of River Neris ("vingis" means bend or curve) and together with other parks north and woodland downriver creates a greenbelt on this side. Enter from the east along Čiurlionio gatve, which spans the busy ring-road: there's a multinational military cemetery by the entrance. The palace has long been demolished - in 1812 it was where Tsar Alexander I learned of Napoleon's invasion, and scarpered with his entourage. The modern amphitheatre west stages rock concerts and other big events.

Built in the 18th century in Baroque style and dedicated to Saint Catherine of Alexandria, as part of a Benedictine Nunnery. The church is known for its elegant façade, intricate stucco decorations, but many of its artworks were either lost in WW2 or moved to the Lithuanian National Museum of Art.

The 326.5 m high telecommunications tower was completed in 1980 and is visible from far and wide. You can ride the lift to the restaurant and observation deck. In 2022 / 23 construction work is under way but the place remains open.

Built in Neo-Byzantine style in 1903, this is the Eastern Orthodox church you see when looking west along Gedimino prospekt. It was financed by fundraising around the Russian Empire.

The modern business district, in Šnipiškės north of the river. Its 21st century glass and steel skyscrapers are visible from afar, including the 148 m Europa Tower.

This was the city's first power plant, opened in 1903. It exhibits electricity generation, industrial technologies, child-friendly interactions and transformation, the Tesla-inspired wizardry that enables long-distance transmission of electricity. They also have an Escape Room, €50 for 2-4 players.

Most of it is Roman Catholic burials but the north end is Jewish, with re-interments from other destroyed cemeteries. These include the scholar Vilna Gaon.

The main resting place of 20th century notables. It holds the heart of Józef Piłsudski (1867–1935), founder of independent Poland, with the rest of him in Wawel in Kraków.

Open-air sculpture park. It's within Europas Park, the rest of which is free and open to dusk.

Grand ornate opera house with three or four weekly performances.

Avant garde theatre southwest edge of Old Town,.

Creaky but atmospheric old theatre with performances mostly in Russian.

Lindy Hop is a US swing / jazz dance style that evolved from the 1930s and is now enjoying a revival, with clubs and lessons, retro gear optional.